Beirut Unpublished, Salwa Eid’s second solo exhibition, re-visits the unreleased negatives from her first solo exhibition Inkblots, with an exclusive new perspective, the point of view of the photographer.

 

Questions related to agency in photographic practices when documenting people and places were at the center of Inkblots. “How do you perceive a city you call your home? I’ve been asking myself that question for a long time now. I first tried to answer it by going around town and capturing what is left of Beirut’s heritage when I quickly realised that to me, it’s the people that make the city, they make it a home,” said Eid, back in 2018. 

 

Beirut Unpublished stems from the desire to find a new approach to the process of photographic documentation by turning the lens inwards. In a place that has witnessed unexpected occurrences in the past 4 years, resulting in a constant state of flux, how can one ground oneself? In a place that seems more foreign than ever, how can its inhabitants give it meaning?

 

Romanticism aside, what does Beirut mean to you, today?